


Of Strawberries, Shoes and a Gradual Loss of Sanity

by chaineddove



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-05
Updated: 2012-03-05
Packaged: 2017-11-01 04:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/351935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaineddove/pseuds/chaineddove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akira is just <i>a little</i> obsessed.  Ashiwara suggests shoe shopping.  Hikaru is not a complete idiot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Strawberries, Shoes and a Gradual Loss of Sanity

**Author's Note:**

> The prompt was: “Touya thinks about something: it could be Shindou, it could be his shoe, it could be what does Hikaru look like in the shower covered in strawberry shower gel.” Strangely, it isn't at all smutty.

It’s actually kind of sick how many times a day he thinks about Shindou. He’s more or less resigned himself to the fact that he’s completely lost his mind – he’s never really thought about _anything_ except Go and occasionally homework – but it’s getting to a point where it’s completely ridiculous. He’s never thought about relationships on anything more than a vague level, and always anticipated marrying a quiet girl who makes good tea and knows how to be unobtrusive; instead, he’s stuck with uncouth, uncultured Shindou, who acts like a complete clown and whose shirts are at least as loud as his voice. And all of a sudden he’s thinking about Shindou and his stupid shirts _all the time_ (and occasionally maybe even what’s under them, but he’s still mostly in denial about this).

He’s so busy thinking about Shindou that he actually loses a game to him – though this is at least partially due to Shindou playing dirty and coming in smelling like a strawberry cake, or something equally ludicrous (when he sputters out a question about it, Shindou only laughs self-consciously and tells him he ran out of shower gel and had to borrow his mom’s; after that, Touya is accosted at inopportune times with mental images of _Shindou in the shower_ , which shouldn’t be even remotely interesting but somehow make him turn shades of red he has never even seen before. Shindou asks him if he has a fever and he actually throws a goke at him in a desperate effort to _shut him up_ ).

The worst part is, he knows absolutely no one in whom he can confide. He’s heard that sharing one’s problems makes them seem more manageable, but he really can’t think of anyone he’d like to burden with Shindou and his shirts and his strawberry shower gel, for god’s sake. He can only imagine (with utter horror) how the conversation might go if he were to divulge to one of his parents or worse, Ogata-san. He does almost tell Ashiwara-san in a moment of weakness; they are sitting on a hotel lobby bench between events at a Go convention. “I’ve been thinking,” Akira says slowly.

“About what, Akira-kun?” Ashiwara-san asks cheerfully.

“Ashiwara-san,” he says. “Have you ever…” He’s never at a loss for words, but he has no idea how to continue this without humiliating himself for life in Ashiwara-san’s eyes. He realizes there is _absolutely no way_ he can ever do this and searches desperately for a segue into another subject. “You know,” he says, staring at his feet and wishing he had never brought it up, “I need to get my shoes shined. Or maybe get new ones. They’re looking a bit scuffed, aren’t they?” His shoes are actually brand new, but there is a scratch across one side – from the time he was walking with Shindou and trying very hard to look like he was _not_ looking at him and nearly fell off the sidewalk.

Ashiwara-san is silent and perplexed for a few moments, then says, “Oh, Akira-kun, would you like me to take you shoe shopping? I suppose your mother always does it, doesn’t she? She hasn’t been in Japan much recently. I’d be glad to help out!”

Akira wishes he could disappear. “That sounds great,” he mutters. “Thank you, Ashiwara-san. Really. I have to go now.” He escapes to the washroom to splash cold water on his face and seriously contemplate whether it’s possible to drown yourself in a bathroom sink.

The next day, Shindou doesn’t smell like strawberries anymore and while this is helpful to Akira’s concentration, he also finds that he rather misses it. Be that as it may, he at least manages to trounce Shindou at Go, which goes a long way towards restoring his hope that he will get over this little issue someday, really. With all the righteousness he can muster, he points out to Shindou exactly where he lost and why this makes him an utter imbecile.

Instead of yelling, Shindou grins and rocks back in his chair, hands behind his head, a small strip of skin exposed on his stomach. Touya feels himself turning red again. “Man, you’re right; that was pretty dumb,” Shindou says candidly. He looks totally pleased with himself, which is ridiculous because he just _lost_. “Guess I thought you wouldn’t be paying attention again.”

“I always pay attention,” Akira huffs indignantly.

“Not last week, you weren’t,” Shindou tells him. “Ah well. Guess I’ll steal Mom’s shower gel again, or something.” He is grinning as he says this, as though it is nothing out of the ordinary.

Akira gapes, then explodes. “HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THAT!? SHINDOU!”

Shindou is trying and failing to suppress his laughter. “What, you thought you were being _discreet_ or something?”

“I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE EVEN INSINUATING SUCH THINGS!” he shouts desperately, jumping out of his seat in an attempt to further display his indignation.

Shindou is still chucking as he gets up out of his seat. “You are such a complete idiot. I can’t believe I ever thought you had it all together. At least when _I_ started staring I made sure you wouldn’t notice.” Akira gawks at him, speechless. “Hey, whatever, it’s your call,” Shindou continues. “But let me know when you’re sick of staring and we’ll go from there.”


End file.
